Looking Back:
We started out researching bismuth, how it works, what safety precautions we need to take, how to make it the color we want and so on. It was helpful because we were working with Natalie who was there when Andrew was doing the first bismuth experiment. She knew a lot about the whole process and how it worked. Once we did our research and checked with Andrew, we started our experiment. We used the leftover bismuth from the group before us and we started to heat it up. It took some time because the bismuth was stuck to the sides of the little measuring cup we used and the hot plate heated up the bottom. There was a time when someone came over and started jamming the metal stick into the solid bismuth around the edges to get it to move down. Which was very dangerous with the melted bismuth in the center. We were lucky it didn't splash up and we shouldn't have let that happen. When it finally melted down, we put the smaller cup of bismuth in to the big one. After that we took it off the hot plate to let it cool. We scraped off the slag that came to the top so it wouldn't get on the crystals (which we later found we didn't do enough of). We poured out the liquid and flipped the cup over to get the color we wanted, which was blue. We hit the cup against the table and got the bismuth out.
Looking Beyond:
The bismuth makes steps in the crystal because there's a higher growth rate on the outer edge then the inside causing a hollowed out "hopper" like crystal. It gets its color by a thin oxide layer on its surface. That's why you can determine the color of your crystals by how much oxygen you expose it to. The slag is the not pure stuff from the block of bismuth. I'm still unsure of why the bismuth acts that way compared to other metals, so there were a lot of questions that came a long with this experiment. I had questions like why does bismuth do this, how do the crystals form, and most of the science behind it. I tried to research and look more deeply into this but only found the information above.
Looking inward:
We were successful with making the bismuth crystals and getting the color we wanted. However, I think we left some slag when we poured the liquid out since it got on our crystals and put a slightly yellow layer over the blue crystals. I think we got this result because we weren't completely sure what the slag was and how to remove all of it. We could've looked more into it to be more successful. Besides that, I think we were successful because we had Natalie in our group who knew a lot about the whole process and we also did a lot of research on the steps. We were very careful and slow in the whole process. In this activity, I think I performed well in the sense I didn't endanger myself or anyone around me. I wore safety glasses and was careful when around the bismuth and hot plate.
Looking outward:
I worked with Natalie, Sammie and Annika in this experiment. I think our group performed well but Natalie did a lot of the work. I think it could've been more of a collaborative experiment but it was still fun. I think I could've contributed more and helped Natalie out so it didn't feel like she was doing it alone. I did take pictures of the whole experiment and sent it to the members of my group. We were safe the whole time wearing safety glasses and gloves when handling the bismuth and we followed the steps carefully.
Looking Forward:
If I did this again, I think I would get more of the slag off and be more involved. We are doing this experiment again to get more pieces so I will keep that in mind to have a more successful outcome. I think I would work with the same people since we work well together.To continue this we could try to get different colors and sizes of bismuth. Not related to chemistry we could also make jewelry out of it. It's be cool to continue this and to produce more crystals.
Take aways: I learned how to handle more dangerous experiments, with the hotplate, melted metal and so on. I also learned about bismuth and how to make crystals/ how they form.
We started out researching bismuth, how it works, what safety precautions we need to take, how to make it the color we want and so on. It was helpful because we were working with Natalie who was there when Andrew was doing the first bismuth experiment. She knew a lot about the whole process and how it worked. Once we did our research and checked with Andrew, we started our experiment. We used the leftover bismuth from the group before us and we started to heat it up. It took some time because the bismuth was stuck to the sides of the little measuring cup we used and the hot plate heated up the bottom. There was a time when someone came over and started jamming the metal stick into the solid bismuth around the edges to get it to move down. Which was very dangerous with the melted bismuth in the center. We were lucky it didn't splash up and we shouldn't have let that happen. When it finally melted down, we put the smaller cup of bismuth in to the big one. After that we took it off the hot plate to let it cool. We scraped off the slag that came to the top so it wouldn't get on the crystals (which we later found we didn't do enough of). We poured out the liquid and flipped the cup over to get the color we wanted, which was blue. We hit the cup against the table and got the bismuth out.
Looking Beyond:
The bismuth makes steps in the crystal because there's a higher growth rate on the outer edge then the inside causing a hollowed out "hopper" like crystal. It gets its color by a thin oxide layer on its surface. That's why you can determine the color of your crystals by how much oxygen you expose it to. The slag is the not pure stuff from the block of bismuth. I'm still unsure of why the bismuth acts that way compared to other metals, so there were a lot of questions that came a long with this experiment. I had questions like why does bismuth do this, how do the crystals form, and most of the science behind it. I tried to research and look more deeply into this but only found the information above.
Looking inward:
We were successful with making the bismuth crystals and getting the color we wanted. However, I think we left some slag when we poured the liquid out since it got on our crystals and put a slightly yellow layer over the blue crystals. I think we got this result because we weren't completely sure what the slag was and how to remove all of it. We could've looked more into it to be more successful. Besides that, I think we were successful because we had Natalie in our group who knew a lot about the whole process and we also did a lot of research on the steps. We were very careful and slow in the whole process. In this activity, I think I performed well in the sense I didn't endanger myself or anyone around me. I wore safety glasses and was careful when around the bismuth and hot plate.
Looking outward:
I worked with Natalie, Sammie and Annika in this experiment. I think our group performed well but Natalie did a lot of the work. I think it could've been more of a collaborative experiment but it was still fun. I think I could've contributed more and helped Natalie out so it didn't feel like she was doing it alone. I did take pictures of the whole experiment and sent it to the members of my group. We were safe the whole time wearing safety glasses and gloves when handling the bismuth and we followed the steps carefully.
Looking Forward:
If I did this again, I think I would get more of the slag off and be more involved. We are doing this experiment again to get more pieces so I will keep that in mind to have a more successful outcome. I think I would work with the same people since we work well together.To continue this we could try to get different colors and sizes of bismuth. Not related to chemistry we could also make jewelry out of it. It's be cool to continue this and to produce more crystals.
Take aways: I learned how to handle more dangerous experiments, with the hotplate, melted metal and so on. I also learned about bismuth and how to make crystals/ how they form.